417 



horses after having been ridden far in frost and snow and placed 

 immediately in a hot stable and littered up to the knees are attacked 

 by this complaint." I have never seen the disease occnr nnder exactly 

 similar circnmstances, bnt am inclined to believe that in these cases 

 the disease was attributed to the wrong cause — the excitement, exhaus- 

 tion, and concussion of the long ride being apparently entirelj' over- 

 looked. Furthermore, if we consider the physical conditions which 

 must necessarily be present under the circumstances, it seems incon- 

 sistent Avith our knowledge of the effects of heat and cold to believe 

 tliat the verj' moderate temperature of stables and the lieat-T)roducing 

 ijroperties of bedding "up to the knees" could' be productive of 1am- 

 initis. Rather should we say that such favorable circumstances would 

 be conducive to opposite results. 



(5) AVhj^ it is that certain kinds of grain v>-ill cause laminitis does 

 not seem to be clearly understood. Certainly they possess no specific 

 action upon the laminsG, for all animals are not alike affected, neither 

 do thej^ always produce these results in the same animal. In the 

 case of some of these ailments, where their ingestion causes a strong 

 tendency to indigestion, the consequent irritation of the alimentary 

 canal may be so great as to warrant the belief that the lamina3 are 

 affected through sympathy. In other instances there is no apparent 

 interference with digestion, nor evidence of any irritation of the 

 mucous membranes, yet the disease is in some manner dependent upon 

 the food in question for its inception. Barley, wheat, and sometimes 

 corn are the grains most prolific in the production of this disease. 

 With some horses there appears to be a particular susceptibility to 

 this influence of corn. In such instances the feeding of this grain for 

 a few days will be followed by inflammation of the feet, lasting from 

 a few days to two weeks time. In these animals, to all appearances 

 healthy, the corn neither induces colic, indigestion, nor i^urging, and 

 apparently no irritation whatever of tlie alimentary canal. 



(()) Fortunately i^urgative medicines but rarely become the exciting 

 cause of inflammation of the lamina?. That it is then the result of a 

 sympathetic action upon the part of the tissues affected is no doubt 

 more than hypothetical, for when there is no derangement of the ali- 

 mentary canal existing a dose of cathartic medicine will at times bring 

 on severe laminitis, and that, too, before purgation commences. 



(7) Most if not all the older authorities were agreed that metastatic 

 laminitis is a reality. That such a condition ever does exist outside 

 the imagination certainly awaits the proving. That laminitis may 

 and ofttimes does exist as a concurrent disease with numerous 

 others is unquestionably true, but to believe an inflammation can be 

 almost momentarily transferred from one organ to another, no mat- 

 ter how remote, is to destroy all belief in our knowledge of the pathol- 

 ogy of this complicated process. We do not pretend to deny that 

 5961— HOR 1-4 



